


Chess With Friends

by BritishParty



Series: An Unexpected Chess Match [2]
Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Chess, Friends used as pawns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-29
Updated: 2014-11-29
Packaged: 2018-02-27 09:36:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2687942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BritishParty/pseuds/BritishParty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short continuation of the previous story, 'Chess to End the World.'</p><p>There's a tiny heartbeat hidden in the carved marble, a subtle pulse no one else would be able to detect. He hears it - sixteen soft beats, six pairs of two in sync.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chess With Friends

Kirin knows this is a bad idea the instant he picks up the piece - has known it since Ridge suggested they play. He can _feel_ the tiny hint of magic in the piece, so cleverly disguised he knows Ridge tried to hide it.  
There's a tiny heartbeat hidden in the carved marble, a subtle pulse no one else would be able to detect. He hears it - sixteen soft beats, six pairs of two in sync - with the only exceptions of the poor king and queen, all of whom only have one chance.  
He doesn't hear it from the sixteen pawns, the rams and wolves; truly just pieces of stone, then.  
As he sets the bishop down, two spaces away, he can only pray that Lying has noticed the magic, and they've put up a ward against it. He's grown overly fond of them. If they're hurt, it is his fault, really.  
The way Ridge handles his knight tells Kirin that he can't feel the pulses. Only him, then, like always.  
The way his rook splinters into pieces and bursts into tiny feathers that burn midair is not at all reassuring. Sjin stands in Lomadia's place, a smile upon his face, the innocent architect unaware of the pain he'd caused the witch.  
Kirin reminds himself that the game isn't at the normal pace. It could take them as long as a year to move a single piece; they're running on a separate time now, cut off from the rest of the world.  
The blood on Parvis' hands spreads, turning the onyx piece ruby before it shatters into pieces so tiny they disappeared before the human eye. Kirin feels a stab of guilt, remembering how he'd helped the blood-soaked guitarist in his humble beginnings.  
"You're too attached." Quiet words, quiet speaker. Kirin's surprised at the lack of taunts from the demigod thus far, having half expected his opponent to laugh every time a ram was taken off the board.  
"Is this punishment?" Kirin lets his voice become dry, his three-eyed gaze leveled at the expressionless amber windows across from him - the sage shuts his other two eyes to hide the cross images of another dimension and another time.  
"Of a sort." Ridge lazily moves his king to the side, a seemingly unreasonable move.  
Kirin taps two fingers against the edge of the table. If Ridge hadn't moved his king, it would've been checkmate in six moves. Well, what more did he expect of an immortal deity?  
"You're always trying to put yourself above me," Kirin says mildly, setting his knight down with over exaggerated grace.  
"I am above you," Ridge argues, like a spoiled child. "I'm part god, my friend."  
"'Friend.'" Kirin snorts. "And you say I'm too attached."  
"At least I don't use it as an endearment."  
Whatever comment Kirin would've added fades away as an opening becomes clear to both players. Tentative, surprised fingers reach out, grasping the piece as though the accidental gap in their confidence might dissolve any instant.  
A mass of amethyst abruptly splinters across the queen's face, cracking straight through the stone. It spreads outwards, eating through the piece until it's perfectly made from amethyst, with hair thin cracks running through it.  
The moment the hand touches the piece, it implodes, turning to a fine sparkling dust in an instant.  
"Well." The voice is not quite recovered, not yet. "Your move."

**Author's Note:**

> I hope the ending seems as unbiased as I tried to make it - I didn't want to show which queen lost.


End file.
